Woodsonizing JLWOP

The initial report from AP this morning said that the Supreme Court had banned life-without-parole for juveniles convicted of murder. That is wrong. The Court actually held in Miller v. Alabamathat a mandatory sentencing statute for JLWOP is unconstitutional. In other words, the Court is continuing on the track of applying to life-without-parole for juveniles the same kinds of limitations it has long applied to the death penalty for adults. First they banned the penalty for crimes less than murder. Today, they require that the sentencer have discretion to impose it or not.

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The problem, of course, is that Apprendi would seem to apply to all the old cases. Thus, as a practical matter, these guys are going to get their shot at parole. And what about states with mandatory parole etc.? Ugh.

What's lost in this is the victims' families. They likely endured court proceedings etc. Now this lawless court decides to upset the apple cart. Words cannot express my contempt for these people. They have violated their oaths and they should endure all the shame that goes with that. A price will be paid for this lawlessness in blood. And it will be some innocent person who bears it. That's an awfully high price to pay for being stylish.

“A price will be paid for this lawlessness in blood. And it will be some innocent person who bears it.” It is important to elaborate upon what this means.

First, since recidivism is inevitable, it will not be a “some innocent person” but many new innocent victims who pay the price for today’s judicial “lawlessness.” They will be subjected to murder, rape, permanent physical injury and lifelong trauma at the hands of the convicted murderers about whom today’s “lawless” justices are so concerned. And, of course, the new victims will not have judges worrying about them; nor will they receive the full panoply of due process trials, multiple appeals and endless habeas proceedings.

Second, because recidivist murders are predictable,* today’s “oath violators” effectively have condemned to death currently unknown and unsuspecting law-abiding victims. Although some on the side of victims disagree with this characterization, I maintain,** when state actors knowingly condemn people to death, that is tantamount to capital punishment. So today, in order to save convicted murderers from life without parole, the Supreme Court has imposed the death penalty upon the innocent.